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Baby, we got a bubble!?

Times have change now, price of homes today compared to annual salary increased much more than those days where you can save up and pay "their house in cash". having a mortgage is not a bad thing, just have to live within your means. At the same time, I want to say home ownership is not a right, it's a privilege.
 
When I was in high school (eons ago), there was such a course available, albeit optional, but it was worth a full credit. I couldn't believe it though. It included stuff like how to write a cheque, etc. I guess we had a lot of people from all sorts of socioeconomic classes with parents with different amounts of education, but seriously, WTF?! Needless to say I didn't waste my time taking that course.

What I did take though was secretarial typing. Best use of my time in all of high school.

Times have change now, price of homes today compared to annual salary increased much more than those days where you can save up and pay "their house in cash". having a mortgage is not a bad thing, just have to live within your means. At the same time, I want to say home ownership is not a right, it's a privilege.
Except, it makes no sense to borrow $17000+ for a car, when you want to buy a home and only have $55000 saved up. It's just plain foolish.
 
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When I was in high school (eons ago), there was such a course available, albeit optional, but it was worth a full credit. I couldn't believe it though. It included stuff like how to write a cheque, etc. I guess we had a lot of people from all sorts of socioeconomic classes with parents with different amounts of education, but seriously, WTF?! Needless to say I didn't waste my time taking that course.

What I did take though was secretarial typing. Best use of my time in all of high school.

At my high school, both of those were required! And in French! (if you were in that program)
 
When I was in high school (eons ago), there was such a course available, albeit optional, but it was worth a full credit. I couldn't believe it though. It included stuff like how to write a cheque, etc. I guess we had a lot of people from all sorts of socioeconomic classes with parents with different amounts of education, but seriously, WTF?! Needless to say I didn't waste my time taking that course.

What I did take though was secretarial typing. Best use of my time in all of high school.

I think they taught students how to write cheques in accounting class? The cheque writing part only covered a few minutes of the whole course in high school. The course mostly covered basic accounting which I found insightful.

As for secretarial typing. I don't think it's necessary to take a typing course in this day and age anymore. Just throw the student on msn and tell them to add their friends. They'll be typing away instead of chatting. It's one of the most easiest skill to acquire. Learning short hand of course is another matter.
 
When I was in high school (eons ago), there was such a course available, albeit optional,


Except, it makes no sense to borrow $17000+ for a car, when you want to buy a home and only have $55000 saved up. It's just plain foolish.

They need to make the course mandatory again. It seems basic budgeting and everyday financial skills are lost on today's generation. Everyone lives in this "monthly payment" world with no regard whatsoever for bottom line total cost of ownership.

Agreed about her buying a 17k car. The funniest thing is that she freelances for a living, so it's not like she needs to travel to work/an office everyday. If she needed transportation she could have found a used beater/semi beater grocery getter for 5k.

I look forward to reading more of Krystal Yee's columns. I can't wait to see what other pearls of wisdom she shares with her readers. LOL.
 
I think they taught students how to write cheques in accounting class? The cheque writing part only covered a few minutes of the whole course in high school. The course mostly covered basic accounting which I found insightful.
Well, these classes were a step down. The first set of classes included stuff like what types of bank accounts existed, etc. REALLY basic accounting I guess. It was an enormous waste of time. They could make it a very shortened class and add more interesting stuff like explanations about RRSPs and TFSAs and then I'd say it might actually be useful.

As for secretarial typing. I don't think it's necessary to take a typing course in this day and age anymore. Just throw the student on msn and tell them to add their friends. They'll be typing away instead of chatting. It's one of the most easiest skill to acquire. Learning short hand of course is another matter.
So many people don't know how to type properly, or accurately. The secretarial typing classes emphasize both. I agree they don't have to be full-on classes though.

Perhaps high schools should introduce 1/4 or 1/2 credit classes like the above.
 
Agreed about her buying a 17k car. The funniest thing is that she freelances for a living, so it's not like she needs to travel to work/an office everyday. If she needed transportation she could have found a used beater/semi beater grocery getter for 5k.

I look forward to reading more of Krystal Yee's columns. I can't wait to see what other pearls of wisdom she shares with her readers. LOL.

funny thing ... when i read that, first thing i saw was PERILS of wisdom, not pearls.
 
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I look forward to reading more of Krystal Yee's columns. I can't wait to see what other pearls of wisdom she shares with her readers. LOL.

Just go to the Star online and do a webpage search. You'll have a ball reading some of her other doozies. :eek:
 
Speaking of Moneyville articles, here's a new one from today...

http://www.moneyville.ca/article/1203420--why-the-bidding-war-frenzy-may-be-ending?bn=1

Why the bidding war frenzy may be ending

By Mark Weisleder | Fri Jun 1 2012

There are signs that the silly winter season of bidding wars has slowed down and maybe on its way out. Anecdotal evidence from GTA real estate agents suggests the number of homes drawing multiple bids is down and in cases where there are more than one offer, there are many fewer offers than before.

That’s a far cry from the frenzy this winter. Some examples: In January, a home on West Hills Ave. in the Casa Loma neighbourhood of Toronto, listed at $950,000, drew 15 offers and sold or $1,375,000 after seven days on the market.

In March, a bungalow near the Yonge-Finch subway line was listed for $759,000 and sold for $1,180,000, after 17 offers were received. The most recent bungalow sale in the area before that was closer to $900,000, two years ago.

Here’s what I’ve been hearing from real estate agents about why things might have changed:

  1. Sellers are getting greedy. With prices that have been steadily rising since the beginning of the year, some are jumping in with unrealistic demands.
  2. Buyers are more cautious as they consider news coverage of high household debt and what that might mean for house prices.
  3. The January to March period was an anomaly with demand created by many buyers entering the market and few properties available.
  4. Agents artificially created bidding wars by not permitting any offers until up to seven days after a property came onto the market. Now, sellers are looking at offers right away.

Still, home prices are remaining stable, and in many cases higher than 2011. The Toronto Real Estate Board reported 10,350 deals in April 2012, which was 18 per cent higher than April 2011. The average price was $517,556, up 8.5 per cent over April 2011.

In my opinion, prices will remain stable for the following reasons:

  1. Interest rates remain at historic lows.
  2. Based on New York prices in general, the GTA is still a bargain. The new development at 66 E. 11th St. in Manhattan will offer the City’s first $1 million dollar parking space, according to MSNBC. The space will go to the owner of the 8,000 square foot townhouse or penthouse in the eight story building. In New York, people will pay more for a parking space than the average American pays for a home.
  3. Immigration to the GTA remains strong. Just look at the news from Europe. Where would you want to live?
  4. Economists have been predicting doom and gloom in the GTA for the past twelve years. It still hasn’t happened.

This slowdown in bidding wars is still good for buyers and sellers. Buyers can now conduct detailed home inspections before agreeing to buy a home, to avoid surprises after closing. They can also take more time to research the neighbourhood when a home comes up for sale, to make sure that there are no surprises on the street or with any planned future developments. Finally, they can focus more on what they can truly afford, without getting caught up in the hype of bidding wars.

Sellers can take comfort that if they are realistic in their sale price demands, their home should still sell in a reasonable amount of time.

Mark Weisleder is a Toronto real estate lawyer. Contact him at mark@markweisleder.com
 
Toronto land transfer tax hurting housing market: Realtors

i don't necessarily agree with the TLTT, but there is a rebate to first time buyers.

the article should really be focusing on the high TO r/e prices and the 5% r/e commissions as more deterents than the ~1.5% LTT

http://www.moneyville.ca/article/1202492--toronto-land-transfer-tax-hurting-housing-market-realtors

By Susan Pigg | Tue May 29 2012

Toronto’s land transfer tax may be costing the economy $250 million in economic spinoffs, driving down home sales in the 416 region and contributing to a shortage of new listings, according to the Toronto Real Estate Board.

While it’s “encouraging†that Toronto’s budget chief is pondering phasing out the “double tax†by 5 per cent a year, starting next year, a quicker end is needed, says Von Palmer, chief government and public affairs officer for TREB.

Toronto is the only city in Canada that imposes a land transfer tax on top of the provincial one. That translates into $15,086 in up front costs when buying the average home in Toronto, now worth $572,159. That’s $7,100 more than it costs to buy the same home in the suburbs.

In fact, the tax has been far more lucrative for the city than originally anticipated, thanks to the hot housing market: Originally expected to bring in about $240 million a year, the city could rake in $330 million by the end of this year.

TREB is now tracking what it considers worrisome signs in the GTA housing market that it blames, at least in part, on the tax.

There is now a substantive “discrepancy†between the level of home sales in the 905 and the 416. In February, for instance, home sales were up by 6.3 per cent in the 416 over a year earlier and a whopping 23 per cent in the 905 regions.

In March, the differential was 10 percentage points, with sales up 12 per cent in the 905 regions over a year earlier and up just 2 per cent in the 416, says Palmer.

So far this month, the gap has dropped to about 6 percentage points, and while the lower price of 905 properties is likely another factor, “we know the land transfer tax is playing a role, the question is how much,†says Palmer.

Realtors like Toronto’s Thomas Cook are seeing the impact on the ground. He believes the tax is one factor discouraging homeowners from moving up or downsizing. As a result, there aren’t enough listings to meet demand, fuelling bidding wars which are further driving up prices.

“People who are considering selling and buying up certainly think twice when they see what the land transfer tax expense is,†says Cook who recently had a client abandon their plan to sell their $700,000 home and move up to the $950,000 range after doing the moving math.

Others are opting to renovate rather than move, which is further contributing to the shortage of new listings in Toronto, he said.

A detailed analysis by economists at the C.D. Howe Institute back in 2008 determined that the Toronto tax was responsible for a 16 per cent decline in sales of single-family homes, accounting for about 3,500 lost transactions in its first year alone.

Those lost transactions now number close to 5,800, given the fact more than 36,000 homes sold in the 416 area last year.

It’s been estimated that every resale housing transaction generates more than $40,000 in economic spinoffs, from new furniture to appliances to renovations — which means some $250 million in economic spinoffs are being lost, says Palmer.

“At the end of the day, it comes down to jobs.â€

There’s little doubt the tax is having a substantive impact on the GTA housing market, says Finn Poschmann, vice president of research for C.D. Howe.

“It’s terrific to hear the budget chief talk about a phasing out. He’s headed in the right direction and the rest s a matter of subtle argument about how fast you get there.â€
 
[*]Agents artificially created bidding wars by not permitting any offers until up to seven days after a property came onto the market. Now, sellers are looking at offers right away.

Lame excuse. Submit an officially registered offer with a short irrevocable date and demand a copy of the written instruction from the seller if your agent is not allowed to present to the seller immediately and in person.

The seller agent doesn't have the legal authority to not permit offers; only their client. By not taking the registered offer to the seller the agent representing the seller is not working in the best interests of the seller and can be punished fairly severely by RECO.


If it's a decent offer (asking price + $1000 or similar) there is a good chance the seller will take it anyway and you've just pre-empted the bidding war. If they don't take it then you know for certain the seller is trying to game the system and that you, as a buyer, don't want to be a part of the bidding process.

This is particularlay effective if the agent purposfully lowballed the property value without telling the client that. They can't say $ASK + $1000 is a bad offer without admitting they were trying to make themselves look good.



Last place I sold I had a buyer which looked at the place twice but didn't put in an offer. I sent an offer to them, as the seller, which knocked 1% off the purchase price (was going to have to give that up anyway) and they took it just because they had a document infront of them which had a deadline attached.

Point being, just because it isn't normal doesn't mean you can't do it.

Ignore the normal rules (stay within the actual laws) and get it done.
 
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i don't necessarily agree with the TLTT, but there is a rebate to first time buyers.

the article should really be focusing on the high TO r/e prices and the 5% r/e commissions as more deterents than the ~1.5% LTT

It's not totally off. The high TO r/e prices are out of the government's hands. They can't control the prices. TO will always be more expensive than 905 areas. If TO prices were to drop, so would 905 which makes it negligible. Commission is same across the board. If commissions were decreased, it would decrease all over the country or province (not sure who controls the rates). However, LTT is 2% over 400k so it's not 1.5%. People won't be getting rebates if they are up-sizing since they own their home, they won't be considered first time buyers. When selling, they would face the realtors commission plus land transfer taxes. 905 seems more attractive since housing prices are cheaper so you get the best bang for your buck plus there's less transfer taxes. If you argue that property taxes are more expensive in the 905, you also have to consider valuations are higher in TO, so that evens it out. You'll probably be paying about same amount of tax.
 
Lame excuse. Submit an officially registered offer with a short irrevocable date and demand a copy of the written instruction from the seller if your agent is not allowed to present to the seller immediately and in person.

The seller agent doesn't have the legal authority to not permit offers; only their client. By not taking the registered offer to the seller the agent representing the seller is not working in the best interests of the seller and can be punished fairly severely by RECO.


If it's a decent offer (asking price + $1000 or similar) there is a good chance the seller will take it anyway and you've just pre-empted the bidding war. If they don't take it then you know for certain the seller is trying to game the system and that you, as a buyer, don't want to be a part of the bidding process.

This is particularlay effective if the agent purposfully lowballed the property value without telling the client that. They can't say $ASK + $1000 is a bad offer without admitting they were trying to make themselves look good.



Last place I sold I had a buyer which looked at the place twice but didn't put in an offer. I sent an offer to them, as the seller, which knocked 1% off the purchase price (was going to have to give that up anyway) and they took it just because they had a document infront of them which had a deadline attached.

Point being, just because it isn't normal doesn't mean you can't do it.

Ignore the normal rules (stay within the actual laws) and get it done.
The last comp on my condo townhouse was $360000. The comp was a very recent one (couple of months before), and that was the highest price ever in our complex for that unit layout. It was in a slightly better location (as mine was more shaded by the adjacent building), but mine had (cheap) hardwood floors in the living room, probably worth about $2000 installed. Otherwise the units were identical.

I listed for $355000, with a one-week delay before I would accept offers. If somebody had given me a bully offer of $356000 before the scheduled offer date, I likely would not have accepted it, because the interest in the unit was excellent. I got several dozen viewings that week, not including the tons of people that came during the open house. The place sold for way more than $356000, and way more than $360000 too.

However, if the bully offer had been for say $365000, I would have taken it.
 
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When selling, they would face the realtors commission plus land transfer taxes.
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Just to clarify, the land transfer tax is only applicable to the buyer, not the seller. It is also important to note when budgeting that realtor commissions are subject to HST.
 

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